Three Continents in February

Saturday 21st February was our final day in Istanbul so we retraced our steps from the previous day to head from Europe to Asia. Also as an aside, with our weekend in Marrakech earlier in February, Tiger had been to three continents in just one month - not bad going!

First of all we walked to Eminönü, grabbing corn on the cob to eat on the way, then had our lunch (once again!) in McDonalds and then took the Kadıköy ferry over to the Asian side. The ferry was a super quick 20 minutes and you can tap your credit card to get on/off the boat. Over in Asia (!) we just had a walk to the Moda waterfront, played in the playground and headed back on the ferry so we had enough time to get back to the airport for our flight home!

We again saw lots of fishermen and cats!! Would you believe that it is estimated that there are 125,000 (or more!) feral cats in Istanbul but they are very well cared for by everyone and there are even dry cat food vending machines!

After our last day of wandering and exploring, we headed back to our hotel, and transferred back to the airport where Ramadan was in full force (17th February to 19th March 2026). We had been largely unaffected by Ramadan due to being in tourist areas but the airport was beautifully decorated for the occasion.

I should also give a massive shout out to whomever designed the kids play areas at Istanbul (IST) Airport as there was an enormous climbing frame beside the check in desks, and before security, I was particularly impressed with and we made use of for a good hour! There were also other areas we found after security!

Our return flight with Wizzair back to London Luton Airport was really straightforward - four hours of flight time leaving at 22:00; arriving at 23:00 (Istanbul is 3 hours ahead of the UK during the Winter months and 2 hours ahead during the Summer months). Despite being tired, we once again made absolutely record time getting through border control, out of the airport and walked to the Holiday Inn Express picking up our £19 Uber at 23:45 back to the Premier Inn Luton Town for the night (£43). We then had Sunday to get ourselves rested and back to normal before returning to work and school on the Monday.

Wow what an amazing February Half Term trip! We loved Turkey. It was very child friendly and so much to do. We will definitely be returning soon!